I was watching Rancid on Conan and noticed that Matt Freeman switched from Ampeg to Fender amps and included a Fender tweed amp in his rig. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNYROrbsGxE

That was Sweet! Very Nice, Very Nice. :cool:

Interesting. Neat video too. I don't give a crap what anyone says, he is a talented guy and I have built a lot of punk basslines around his phrasing and technique. I probably never would have got into Rancid otherwise, and I think they get unfairly lumped with some pretty lousy pop punk garbage.

matt writes some very intense basslines, more going on there than meets the eye. much better drummer than the original as well.

much better drummer than the original as well.


Haha, that's exactly what i was noticing the whole time as well.

I love Rancid, and Matt is the reason I picked up a bass when I was a kid. But....the new album is horrible compared to the rest of thier catalog.

I just checked Fender's site. They have his rig listed thier - but nothing about the tweed amp. It's probably just a modded Bassman or something like it. The rest of it is just thier stock high end stuff.

I keep hoping they will come out with a Freeman signature bass, but then again all he usually plays are stock basses anyway.

therein lies a bunch of his appeal to me. He doesn't need a bunch of over the top fancy schmancy crap (ala real punk) but plays his instrument with style, technique and as tasteful as you can expect for the genre. Gotta agree on the newer stuff kinda not so good. After Self Titled 2000 I kind of lost track of Rancid's stuff. Still one of my number one records though.

therein lies a bunch of his appeal to me. He doesn't need a bunch of over the top fancy schmancy crap (ala real punk) but plays his instrument with style, technique and as tasteful as you can expect for the genre.

Couldn't agree with you more.

I have to admit I'm a big Rancid fan, but the new record isn't doing it for me yet. Some of the lyrics are silly, but most of the music is really good.

I agree on Rancid's new album being weak. It's just not very listenable or memorable compared to the rest of their records.

guess its another case of equipment doesn't mean much. fender or ampeg, it still instantly recognizable as Matt Freeman

Cool!

I was working for a club here as their runner a few years back. Social Distortion came through and Matt Freeman was playing bass for them on that tour. I was driving him and Mike Ness around town, checking out shops and stuff. Matt was one of the absolute grumpiest people I've ever met in my life. I've always wanted to talk bass with that guy. But nope, didn't even want to look at him the wrong way.

It sucked, one of my bass heroes in my car cruising El Paso, and nothing.

I was working for a club here as their runner a few years back. Social Distortion came through and Matt Freeman was playing bass for them on that tour. I was driving him and Mike Ness around town, checking out shops and stuff. Matt was one of the absolute grumpiest people I've ever met in my life. I've always wanted to talk bass with that guy. But nope, didn't even want to look at him the wrong way.

It sucked, one of my bass heroes in my car cruising El Paso, and nothing.

That sucks! I know he was waiting for his wife to give birth at that time, at least that was the "official" reason he left Social D, but definitely not an excuse to be grumpy.

Interesting. Neat video too. I don't give a crap what anyone says, he is a talented guy and I have built a lot of punk basslines around his phrasing and technique. I probably never would have got into Rancid otherwise, and I think they get unfairly lumped with some pretty lousy pop punk garbage.

Dude...what you mean he is just talented guy?!?! HE IS A FREAKIN MONSTER! :smug::)

I don't pick (never learned it) but if I did......man......
I definitely site him as an influence on my lines for sure...although I'm not nearly as good / talented as he is!
For some reason I've always thought of him as the pick version of Steve Harris or vice versa.

I was watching Rancid on Conan and noticed that Matt Freeman switched from Ampeg to Fender amps and included a Fender tweed amp in his rig. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNYROrbsGxE

Looks like he's is using a small combo to mic for tone and a big stack for stage volume

Im not a fan, but to each their own.

Though I will say, Conan is the man. :D

Dude...what you mean he is just talented guy?!?! HE IS A FREAKIN MONSTER! :smug::)

I don't pick (never learned it) but if I did......man......
I definitely site him as an influence on my lines for sure...although I'm not nearly as good / talented as he is!
For some reason I've always thought of him as the pick version of Steve Harris or vice versa.

Ok, I took it a little understated, but he is far from being a real bass monster. I love what he does and I covered a good number of Rancid songs in my day (had to fudge parts of Maxwell Murder back then, and still probably would), but musically they are pretty easy lines, he just plays very fast and very cleanly. He is more technique than someone who plays all sorts of weirdo scales and modes and whatnot that I have never heard of. Those are the guys I regard as real monsters. Funny, by and large I hate their music though.

Damn Tim's guitar hangs low! He looks funny with a shaved head too...

Ok, I took it a little understated, but he is far from being a real bass monster. I love what he does and I covered a good number of Rancid songs in my day (had to fudge parts of Maxwell Murder back then, and still probably would), but musically they are pretty easy lines, he just plays very fast and very cleanly. He is more technique than someone who plays all sorts of weirdo scales and modes and whatnot that I have never heard of. Those are the guys I regard as real monsters. Funny, by and large I hate their music though.

Oh yeah, you're right. His speed and precision at fundamental (and blues / rock type....I'm music theory uneducated) scales are amazing.

Damn Tim's guitar hangs low! He looks funny with a shaved head too...

your guitar can hang that low when you never play it. looks more like a stage prop

Me neither. I am impressed enough by those jazz guys that play all that craziness, and I will even listen to quite a bit of it, but if you give me a choice of "Lets Go" or some Stanley Clarke (now thats a monster) record as my only record to listen to ever again, the choice is pretty obvious.

Same can be said about Steve Harris....lines aren't that difficult at all but it's his speed and precision that amaze me.

Rancid's pretty cool.

True true on Steve. That triplet thing is tough to do that cleanly, but his lines are not that hard. Yet his right hand technique is technically terrible! I have watched him on videos and stuff and the way he is beating up those strings it looks like there is no way he can be playing that fast and well. Geddy too. They both break all the rules of how I was taught to play with my right hand, but I'll be damned if I could walk up to either of them and say " you're doing it wrong, let me show you"

True true on Steve. That triplet thing is tough to do that cleanly, but his lines are not that hard. Yet his right hand technique is technically terrible! I have watched him on videos and stuff and the way he is beating up those strings it looks like there is no way he can be playing that fast and well. Geddy too. They both break all the rules of how I was taught to play with my right hand, but I'll be damned if I could walk up to either of them and say " you're doing it wrong, let me show you"

heh heh......true!

I was working for a club here as their runner a few years back. Social Distortion came through and Matt Freeman was playing bass for them on that tour. I was driving him and Mike Ness around town, checking out shops and stuff. Matt was one of the absolute grumpiest people I've ever met in my life. I've always wanted to talk bass with that guy. But nope, didn't even want to look at him the wrong way.

It sucked, one of my bass heroes in my car cruising El Paso, and nothing.

I just met him tonight and he's a very gracious, humble, nice guy.

The video has been removed! Does Matt play a Precision or a Jazz? I always thought he had a jazz tone, but the Fender site shows him holding a P? Love his playing either way.

The video has been removed! Does Matt play a Precision or a Jazz? I always thought he had a jazz tone, but the Fender site shows him holding a P? Love his playing either way.

He has played both in the past. Just youtube a few of his solos throughout the years.

Yeah that's what I thought. Previously posted on here, Matt talking gear and playing his old P-bass.

http://www.rancidrancid.com/webisode9.html

your guitar can hang that low when you never play it. looks more like a stage prop

This.
I saw them live last month and noticed Matt's Fender amps and Tim's ability to hold a guitar for long periods of time without playing it.
Although they were great, Billy Talent blew them out of the water.

The video has been removed! Does Matt play a Precision or a Jazz? I always thought he had a jazz tone, but the Fender site shows him holding a P? Love his playing either way.

He favored a Jazz w/ Social Distortion- and has played mostly Precisions w/ Rancid. He is an avid collector of 'player' basses and plays tries to play them all- I think he is using a fretted Tony Franklin and road worn P basses right now...

This.
I saw them live last month and noticed Matt's Fender amps and Tim's ability to hold a guitar for long periods of time without playing it.
Although they were great, Billy Talent blew them out of the water.


I caught them on the previous tour, and was sadly disappointed. I absolutely idolized this band growing up and slurped up all things Matt Freeman and Tim Armstrong. Tim not playing his parts in songs that clearly have two different guitar parts on the records made me feel like I was being cheated out of my money. Other than Lars, the whole bad looked like thye were just going through the paces and collecting a check. I'll always love past records, but I wont waste any more money seeing them live.

He favored a Jazz w/ Social Distortion- and has played mostly Precisions w/ Rancid. He is an avid collector of 'player' basses and plays tries to play them all- I think he is using a fretted Tony Franklin and road worn P basses right now...

Yeah looks like a RW P on Fender's site.

True true on Steve. That triplet thing is tough to do that cleanly, but his lines are not that hard. Yet his right hand technique is technically terrible! I have watched him on videos and stuff and the way he is beating up those strings it looks like there is no way he can be playing that fast and well. Geddy too. They both break all the rules of how I was taught to play with my right hand, but I'll be damned if I could walk up to either of them and say " you're doing it wrong, let me show you"

LOL!

So true!

I had the privilege of watching Geddy play pretty closely and his "technique" looked all wrong and ham-fisted from everything I've ever been taught. Sounded amazing though!

As an aside, Alex Lifeson's left-hand fretting technique really looks whack, but I'd be the last person ever to disagree with his results!:D

The video has been removed! Does Matt play a Precision or a Jazz? I always thought he had a jazz tone, but the Fender site shows him holding a P? Love his playing either way.


He was playing his 77 Precision, the one with all the stickers on it. Athough on tour he's been playing a new Fender Tony Franklin Fretted Precision. The tweed amp he's playing is the new Fender T.V. Series combos.

Don't know what this is, but it rocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J08skBDQ3C4

Its the extended live Solo on Maxwell Murders...

I loved Freeman a couple of years ago, when I started playing some harder lines on my bass. But now when I'm listening to some Rancid Songs (especially some older ones from Lets Go and their first record) I think some of them are pretty exhausting... its just some kind of war coming through your speakers...
But there are more Songs, that are just great, especially the ...and out came the wolves record is simply great...

Respect......